Bouchard vs Dobson

Bouchard vs Dobson


  • Total voters
    306

Toene

Y'en aura pas de facile
Nov 17, 2014
4,906
4,842
Bouchard for me but it's close. Dobson is a very mature player and wont take long to play in the big league but Bouchard's season is more impressive imo.
 

Elias Pettersson

I'm not a troll
Jan 22, 2014
3,843
1,827
Why do people think Bouchard will be an NHL defenceman when he can't even skate well enough to defend against junior players? Serious question.
 
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AuraSphere

Registered User
Jun 27, 2012
4,184
2,242
Why do people think Bouchard will be an NHL defenceman when he can't even skate well enough to defend against junior players? Serious question.
Totally agree, but Bouchard is a really smart player.

Regardless, this is Dobson. Points are clouding everyones judgments, but if you've seen them both play, Dobson stands out to me as the better all round player.
 

HisNoodliness

The Karate Kid and ASP Kai
Jun 29, 2014
3,652
2,022
Toronto
Why do people think Bouchard will be an NHL defenceman when he can't even skate well enough to defend against junior players? Serious question.

Most people think way more of his skating than you appear to. Personally I'd rate him as an average to above-average skater in this draft, and I believe that's a fairly consensus opinion. Furthermore because he played 30+ minutes a game this season, there's a strong possibility his skating suffered due to the need to conserve energy. His stride is a little awkward and he's being compared to Hughes (best skater in this draft and truly phenomenal), Boqvist (great skater), and Dobson (great skater) so Bouchard's skating is underrated. He's pretty great at joining the rush, and is sufficiently smart that he's rarely caught out of position because of it.

That being said he's my least favorite of those 4 D because I really value skating and the other 3 are all pretty great at it.
 

HisNoodliness

The Karate Kid and ASP Kai
Jun 29, 2014
3,652
2,022
Toronto
Who do the Wings take?

I need to know now.

Based upon what we get from the media and our tendencies my guess is that our D board looks like Bouchard, Hughes, Dobson, Boqvist. A couple of insiders have suggested that Bouchard would be our pick. Some others have said if not Bouchard then Hughes. Draper said some good things about Boqvist earlier in the year but I don't think the Wings would like his concussion history. Furthermore Tyler Wright has been a size queen thus far so that's why I think Dobson over Boqvist even though neither has been talked about much.

That being said it's all smoke and mirrors so I could be totally wrong and we take Boqvist.
 

DramaticGloveSave

Voice of Reason
Apr 17, 2017
14,565
13,196
I think Dobson is the sexier prospect, but I wouldn't be shocked at all if NHL teams value Bouchard higher.
 

WHISTLERNATE

Registered User
Nov 14, 2017
849
505
I would be happy with either at #7, but I voted Dobson. I think he has a skill set that will transfer over to the NHL better than Bouchard. Playing 30 mins a night in the OHL is impressive, but also inflated Bouchards stats a little.
 
Jul 30, 2005
17,659
4,588
I mean, what is location, really
Dobson is a great prospect, but the fact that one guy is still playing and another hasn't played in like a month+ makes this an unfair comparison. Dobson is front and center in people's minds, and ideas about Bouchard's game are informed more by months old hearsay and narrative than any kind of empirical proof. The best example: people talk about how slow Bouchard is, but Bouchard tested quite well at the top prospects game in terms of skating. In particular, he was second to only Dobson when it came to skating backwards. But that doesn't fit the narrative, so people ignore it.

This is not to mention that Bouchard was head and shoulders the better defenseman for the majority of the season. He had a historic season offensively in a better CHL league on a worse team. He was insanely dominant. We can't forget that just because he isn't playing anymore.

That's not to say that Bouchard is anywhere near the skater Dobson/Hughes/etc are. But I find that a lot of these criticisms conclude that Bouchard doesn't skate well enough to play like Dobson/Hughes/ etc in the NHL, so he's too slow. What they oftentimes don't evaluate is whether Bouchard skates well enough to play like Evan Bouchard in the NHL. And, hey, he probably needs to work on it. But not everyone is going to be a puck rushing defenseman. Not everyone needs to be.
 
Last edited:

CanaFan

Registered User
Feb 19, 2010
19,887
5,849
BC
Oh, I thought I had read that it was more significant. 4 months is still notable at that age, though.

What’s more notable is their level of CHL experience. Bouchard being in his 3rd season and Dobson being in his 2nd. Now it’s not as simple as comparing Bouchard’s 2nd to Dobson this year as that puts Bouchard at an 8 month age disadvantage but the truth is probably somewhere in between.
 

Get North

Registered User
Aug 25, 2013
8,472
1,364
B.C.
Bouchard. Brings more offensively while being a good size. Much better shot, passing skills, and vision than Dobson. Bouchard is just naturally a much more skilled player than Dobson. Dobson is a good two-way defenceman, he can skate and play better defensively than Bouchard, but Dobson will never QB a PP like Bouchard will/does.

Bouchard plays 30 mins in junior, some see that a a negative, I see that a positive, I want my prospect to be tested and pushed. #1 defencemen will have to play 30 mins at times in the playoffs.
 

Peeps

Registered User
May 24, 2017
362
274
Bouchard's skating is not the issue, he is just not smart...

How is he not smart when he constantly progress every year? (17pts to 44pts to 87pts)

Finish 8th in scoring, the closest d-men was Hague (1 year older) at 18th, and was team captain. I don't think Hunter would name a ''not smart'' hockey player to be his team captain..

Also he is #1 for undrafted prospect U19 for scoring.
 

Michael Farkas

Grace Personified
Jun 28, 2006
13,350
7,832
NYC
www.HockeyProspect.com
Because he is a freak athletic talent. Do you see how he plays? I mean, it's pretty obvious what his deal is...you see how he joins rushes and hangs around the attack zone?

I'm sure Dion Phaneuf also increased his stats in the Dub and probably had some sort of letter...

In any case, it doesn't matter, statistics and captaincy have little to do with hockey sense at this level. Hockey sense is seen in game play, you can't read about it in the newspaper haha
 

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